The American Psychiatric Association (APA) wisely rejected the recommendation of some psychiatrists at an APA symposium held in San Francisco on May 19 that pedophilia be removed from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Several categories of mental illness were debated for possible removal from the upcoming annual edition of the manual. Among other illnesses suggested for removal were exhibitionism, transvestism and sadomasochism.

Saying it's not a mental disorder doesn't mean they're in favor of it. In fact, doing so might have opened the door to harsher and more certain punishment for child molestors, since they could no longer hide behind the "mentally ill" label, and the courts would have to fact the fact that they're just plain evil.

By saying that it is not a mental disorder, they would actually raise the stigma attached. This is what happened in the case of homosexuality. Remember the case of the two young boys who murderered their father to please the father's homosexual lover, who was also bonking the boys? The homosexual aspect was totally played down, even the child abuse angle was largely ignored.

This is mostly good news, but the following quote disturbs me greatly.

Moreover, they conclude that psychiatry does not have a theoretical model that "constitutes normal and healthy sexuality to which it could compare people whose sexual interests draw them to children or sadomasochism."

Perhaps psychiatry should be removed from the manual of recognized professions until it can figure this one out.

I can hear the argument in 2020. Moreover, we conclude that psychiatry does not have a theoretical model that "constitutes normal and healthy getting along with others to which it could compare people whose social interests draw them to kill other people on a regular basis."

Some things are so stupid you don't know how to respond to them.

Shalom.

15
posted on 06/24/2003 11:19:38 AM PDT
by ArGee
(I did not come through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man... - Gandalf)

Psychiatrist Charles Moses and Peggy Kleinplatz, Ph.D., presented a paper at the conference titled, "DSM-IV-TR and the Paraphilias: An Argument for Removal." According to Dr. Moses and Ms. Kleinplatz, people whose sexual interests do not comply with the norm of heterosexuality should not be labeled mentally ill, and culture and religion are not good parameters to define healthy sexual instincts.

Peggy Kleinplatz is WAY out there on the lunatic fringe. If you want an idea of how far out there she is, take a look a the contents of her book:

I used to exhibit books at "Marriage & Family Therapy" conferences where these types of screwballs were in evidence. One thing it taught me was that if I was ever having marital difficulties myself, I'd be better off taking them to a celibate priest than to one of these therapist losers--most of whom have marital problems of their own. The clinical "sexologist" crowd was the worst of all. Furthering the cause of perversion in the name of science.

Maybe it is like the definitions of poetry and pornography: I know it when I see it. :-)

That could work, although I believe the quote was being used as a reason to de-list sexual behaviors from the DSM. In other words, I thought she was saying, since I don't ever know it I won't deal with it and tell everyone they're normal.

Shalom.

19
posted on 06/25/2003 8:48:34 AM PDT
by ArGee
(I did not come through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man... - Gandalf)

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